Shining a Light on Regenerative Agriculture in Southern Italy
This September, the EIT Food South team set out on a journey across Southern Italy — a land of olive groves, vineyards, and ancient farming traditions — to explore how innovation and regeneration are reshaping its agricultural future.
Between September 15 and 18, the group visited three lighthouse farms — Cooperativa Nuovo Cilento, Azienda Agricola La Petrosa, and the Morasinsi vineyard — each a living example of how regenerative practices can restore soil health, boost biodiversity, and strengthen rural economies.
Accompanied by farmers, researchers, startups, and journalists, the trip became more than a visit: it was a dialogue between tradition and technology, and between people committed to rebuilding the link between land and life.
Throughout the trip, representatives from EIT Food, farm leaders, startups participating in projects such as Test Farms, researchers, and journalists all took part. Below, we provide a chronological overview of what we saw, the people who shared their experiences, and the quantitative and qualitative impact that EIT Food South is achieving in Italy.
Day 1 — Cooperativa Nuovo Cilento (San Mauro Cilento, Campania)
The journey began in the hills of Cilento, at Cooperativa Nuovo Cilento, a family-led cooperative renowned for its olive oil and community spirit. There, Oksana Hrynevych, EIT Food’s Project Manager for Regenerative Agriculture, opened the trip by introducing the programs that drive this transformation: Regenerative Agriculture and Test Farms.
Inside the cooperative’s mill, Giuseppe, Antonello di Gregorio, and Serena Cilento welcomed the group. They shared how their regenerative journey began — from changing soil management practices to training local farmers — and guided participants through an olive oil tasting, revealing how sustainable farming enhances not just yields but flavor itself.
Highlights:
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Integrating soil and biodiversity management into olive oil production.
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Training programs that empower local farmers.
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Hands-on tasting sessions illustrating the tangible results of regenerative farming
Our Regenerative Agriculture program has been running since 2020. We are present in nine countries, working with more than 150 farmers. Our aim is to make food production more sustainable, productive, and resilient.
Day 2 — Azienda Agricola La Petrosa (Ceraso, Campania)
On the second day, we visitedLa Petrosa, an agriturismo combining lodging with organic farming. There we met Edmondo Soffritti, owner and vice president of Cooperativa Nuovo Cilento, who runs the farm with his sisters (third generation). Edmondo recounted the farm’s practical transition from conventional agriculture to regenerative farming. At La Petrosa, we also attended a roundtable on the Test Farms project, featuring entrepreneurs and startup representatives who had tested their solutions on the farm.
Key speakers included:
- Nicolò de Rienzo, co-founder of LandPrint, described how their environmental resource quantification and evaluation system, tested in Brazil, was adapted for small farms to measure the tangible effects of regenerative practices.
- Niccolò Bartoloni, co-founder of Agrobit and Sales Director of Agricolus, demonstrated how their app creates digital crop models to optimize water, fertilizer, and pesticide use, reducing waste and promoting precision agriculture.
Practical outcomes:
- EIT Food-backed technology proved useful for both large and small farms, improving management and accountability of regenerative practices.
- Concrete cases included the recovery of abandoned olive groves and quantification of agronomic and environmental benefits after adopting regenerative techniques.
Ten years ago, costs kept rising and yields were falling — the land was tired,” Edmondo shared. “We diversified from two crops to around twenty. After five years, we no longer needed chemical fertilizers, and fuel use dropped from 15,000 to 6,000 liters a year. Regeneration gave our soil its vitality back
Day 3 — Morasinsi Vineyard (Minervino Murge, Puglia)
The trip continued in Puglia’s Alta Murgia, where the Morasinsi vineyard stretches over ten hectares of limestone terrain. Led by Sveva Sernia, a young ethnologist turned winemaker, the vineyard integrates vines with trees and shrubs in a living agroforestry system designed to resist desertification.
Their daily commitment is rooted in the belief that caring for the land is both an environmental and social responsibility. By applying the principles of regenerative agriculture, they aim to build a resilient and productive ecosystem that supports biodiversity, strengthens rural economies, and fosters a renewed connection between people and the land. Their work demonstrates how sustainable farming can serve as a model for the future of agriculture in Southern Italy — one that restores, rather than depletes, natural resources.
At Morasinsi, participants also learned about Lilas4Soils, a new five-year EIT Food project starting in 2024 that will bring together 24 partners and 100 farmers across Europe to validate soil carbon capture strategies — an example of regeneration scaling from local to continental level.
Day 4: Naturalis Bio Resort (Salento, Italy)
Continuing our journey through Southern Italy’s regenerative agriculture and experiential tourism landscapes, our next stop was the enchanting Naturalis Bio Resort & Spa. Nestled in the heart of Salento (near Martano, Lecce Province), this elegant 18th-century masseria (farmstead) has been lovingly restored to merge luxury hospitality with organic cultivation and local heritage.
The estate spans more than 18 hectares of organically-farmed land where olives, aloe vera, grapes and medicinal plants grow — the same soil that feeds the resort’s gardens and spa rituals.
In our exploration of Southern Italy’s agricultural renewal, we’ve so far visited core farming operations. Naturalis provides an important additional dimension: how those farming landscapes become part of a broader ecosystem of value—hospitality, wellness and heritage. It reinforces the notion that regenerating the land also means regenerating local economies, local narratives and the visitor experience.
EIT Food’s Broader Impact in Italy
Since 2018, EIT Food has invested €94.9 million in 109 agri-food innovation projects across Italy. With 61 partners, 70 startups, and 442 farmers managing over 15,000 hectares, these initiatives are turning sustainability into measurable progress.
Indeed, data presented by Amparo San José, Head of Network and Business Development, confirmed that regenerative practices are yielding results:
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~60% of farms increased soil organic matter.
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~68% improved soil carbon levels.
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~38% reduced tillage.
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~17% stopped using mineral nitrogen fertilizers.
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~12% abandoned chemical pesticides.
Innovation Through Collaboration
The trip also showcased the importance of local hubs such as the University of Bari “Aldo Moro” and Tecnopolis PST, which help link research with real-world practice.
As Barbara de Ruggieri of EIT Food Hub Italy put it: “Building networks among companies, startups, students, and institutions is essential. Each collaboration we see emerging gives us hope for a sustainable agri-food future.”
In 2024 alone, the Bari Hub engaged over 130 participants in learning programs and referred 400+ students to EIT Food initiatives.
From the olive groves of Cilento to the vineyards of Puglia, the EIT Food South press trip illuminated a simple truth: another model of agriculture is already taking root.
Supported by programs like Regenerative Agriculture, Test Farms, and Lilas4Soils, farmers, startups, and universities are co-creating a new food system — one that heals the soil, empowers communities, and prepares Southern Europe for the challenges ahead.
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